Growing Blossom
by A-Devil's-Child
Summary: She was a beautiful and gentle flower who was always judged to be a fragile unprotected rose, but no one took the chance to see her thorns hurt more than they look. She doesn't need protecting.He was a demon who was always judged to be a handsome monster, but no one took the chance to see behind his cold eyes was a kind soul who only ever wanted to help. He is a protector.
1. Meeting

**PROLOGUE:**

 _ **She was a beautiful and gentle flower who was always judged to be a fragile unprotected rose, but no one took the chance to see her thorns hurt more than they look. She doesn't need protecting.**_

 _ **He was a demon who was always judged to be a handsome monster, but no one took the chance to see behind his cold eyes was a kind soul who only ever wanted to help. He is a protector.**_

 _ **When the two cross paths they were immediately bonded by destiny. Both trying to prove the other wrong. The respect they have and understanding of each other is what keeps them connected. Will they be pulled together by love or force away by the past conflicts.**_

 _ **Chapter One: Meeting**_

 _ **Sakura's POV**_

It had been a long day. Naruto and I had just gotten back from one of our missions. The village had been noisy with a ruckus as Naruto made his way to greet everyone in our path. The mission had been a month long without any real break, so all I really want to do is go home and take a bath. But that's not going to happen because of course before I left Tsunade had to ask for me to see her once I get back for some secret information.

"Hey Naruto I have to go I'll talk to you later. Maybe we can even train if you don't do anything to stupid before then." I tell him before turning to walk away.

"See ya Sakura, and I promise not to do anything stupid. Believe it." Naruto shouts back giving me a good chuckle as I walk down the path to the hokage's tower.

As I reach hokage's tower I felt a strange yet familiar chakra coming from the tower that I knew could not be Tsunade's.I entered the building with caution, and was already sending chakra to my fist in case I needed it for an attack. I look around the room to see that everything seemed in place, and nothing out of the ordinary. As I make my way to the hokage's office door I heard Tsunade talking to someone who talked quiet enough that I could not hear. I knocked on the door and waited for a Tsunade to respond.

"Come in." Said Tsunade's voice as loud as ever. With the response I open the door to see Tsunade with sitting across from her desk Gaara from Suna.

'What is he doing here.' I thought while walking through her door making my return to the village known. She looked up at me and flashed a big happy smile towards me.

"Sakura what a pleasant surprise your back from your mission a day early, and I haven't had any complaints about you destroying anything." I sweat dropped at her last remark. I chuckled nervously.

'Guess she hadn't heard about destroying two building by hitting Naruto through them for him calling me weak.' I shuttered at the thought of the angry townspeople who were in the building.

"Yeah, so Gaara nice to see you again." I say trying to change the topic quickly by turning the attention to the red headed ninja from our allied village the village hidden in the sand. Gaara had only looked up and nodded towards me making a small "Hn" as a response.

"Funny you should mention Gaara. Do you remember the attacks from the village hidden in the mist towards the younger shinobi's to stop the making of ninjas in the village hidden in the leaves especially to the girl to stop the reproduction." She says speaking so fast I thought she was going to run out of air.

"Yes they are in violation of the treaty that was signed between the two villages, but I do not not understand what this has to do with Gaara." I say a little confused on what this could possible have to do with the sand ninja.

"Well you know that Ino has her Mind Transfer Jutsu to stop her opponents in their track without a second thought." She said pondering at what to say next.

"Yeah." I say hoping she will continue. A few minutes had passed of a tense silence before Tsunade started talking again.

"Also Hinata has her Bakugan in her eye to detect an attack before sent at her, and being able to see chakra points to stop any chakra flow from the body. Well and we all know the boys can protect themselves and the ones that can't are under the care of their Sensei." I had figured out where she was going with this and put my hand over my mouth to stop any indecent words coming out towards the hokage.

"No don't you say it." I warn her, but Tsunade still continues trying to keep a gentle and steady voice to hide her nerves.

" Kakashi is busy on a 3 month mission and I am more then overloaded with work to keep an eye on you, and yes I know you think you can handle yourself but other then your chakra control you have nothing to protect you. And that is why Gaara is here. The leaf village boys are either with their Sensei or are already protecting someone else, and Gaara is the most skilled in his village so he was obliviously the best choice." Tsunade and I look at Gaara as we almost forgotten his presence. I decided to look towards Gaara for his help.

"I can protect myself, and Gaara probably has some kind of mission or something to do." I say almost pleading to Tsunade not to make this official.

"I am not to let anything happen to you. I am here strictly to make sure nothing hurts or even touches you. That is what I am to do. That is my mission." Gaara says looking at the floor with a look of boredom on his face. His comment had caught me off guard. The fact that he didn't mind this what really got me so I just stayed silent and glared at the floor.

"This is a A-Ranked mission for only the best of shinobi so I am sure he can handle this, but there is one problem. He has to be able to have eyes on you 22/7 the other two hours is for showering, but my point is that you guys need to live together until this problem is solved with the mist village. You guys can share my house since it is bigger, has 3 bedrooms enough to share, and plenty of food in the fridge. I will have food brought to the house every week to stock up. Oh and Sakura give me your keys I will be staying at your house. I reach in my pocket and pull out my keys and hand them over to Tsunade.

"What if I refuse to cooperate with this arrangement." I ask with some resistance before looking at the window and getting an idea. In the corner of my eye I see Gaara sitting up as if an alarm was going off.

"You better not." She didn't get a chance to finish because I jump out the window landing on a tree branch.

I start jumping from tree to tree before landing on the branch next to Naruto's window seal. I knock a few times before Naruto finally answered.

"Hey Sakura what are you doing here?" He asked looking at me with a strange face.

"Did you do anything stupid while I was gone?" I question him with a hint of challenge in my voice.

"Well I guess if you don't count knocking myself out by running into a tree." He states. All I do is shake my head.

"I'll let it slide once because I really don't wanna be caught by Gaara." I say forgetting to explain the situation to Naruto.

"Woah wait Gaara's in town let's go see him I wanna challenge him to another fight to prove I am the best and meant to be hokage." Naruto rambled on.

"We will talk about this later. We can fight so if you win I'll tell you every detail if I win you buy me ramen." I tell him.

"Deal. Let's go." He says jumping out his window and onto my branch. And with that we were off to fight.


	2. Fight

_**Chapter Two: Fight**_

 _ **Sakura's POV**_

When we made it to our training spot I immediately sent my chakra throughout my body preparing to either attack or defend, but of course I know Naruto will most likely attack first because if he didn't it will probably deflate his ego, and God forbid that his ego drop to his IQ level it might kill him.

I look over to Naruto to see him summoning his chakra. As he does I sense part of the Nine Tailed Fox's chakra finding its way through to the body. All I could do is smirk knowing this fight will be a interesting one.

We start by getting into our stances and preparing our bodies for what is to come. Naruto had spoken up.

"You ready Sakura. If I start to hurt you please drop out I don't know if I can control myself." He says finally getting serious. I laugh at his comment and give him one of my wide smirks.

"I'm ready trust me, and same goes to you if I start to hurt you just drop out." I say trying to edge him on to where he won't hold back. Naruto just snarls in response letting out a small growl, and I start to notice his blue eyes turning red. I can feel the Nine Tails trying to take control, but I decide not push my luck any further.

In a blink of an eye Naruto launches his fist towards me which I block with a quick side step. He then rotates his foot making a 90 degree turn towards me with another fist, and this time I had to duck to block the blow of the punch. As I duck I place my hand on the ground rotating my body. Then sticking my foot out and using it to knock Naruto's feet out from under him. While Naruto was knocked on the ground I jump up while forcing the chakra to my right fist and aiming for his stomach, but before reaching him he rolls out from under my range forcing me to hit the ground causing it to break and dirt to go flying. I look up to see Naruto making a hand signal that was more than recognizable. It was the Shadow Clone Jutsu Naruto's most famous and well known Jutsu.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu." He said making five clones of himself. All I did was roll my eye at his stupidity.

"Way to be unpredictable." I say with sarcasm in my voice. All he did to respond was let out a low growl.

At my remark the five clones and him had attack as if hoping to overpower me. The first two had attacked at once from opposite sides. I ducked and the two clones hit one another causing them to disappear with puff smoke.

Next the rest of the remaining clones and Naruto had attacked at once. I focus the chakra to my right foot doing a high roundhouse kick hitting all of the clones and knocking them to the ground. The rest of the clones disappeared leaving only the real Naruto on the ground. I notice that Naruto had been knocked out by my kick and I start to do a little victory dance.

I then felt a chakra different than Naruto's. It wasn't familiar so I know it an enemy. I send chakra to my fist and start to look around. As my eyes catch a glimpse of a dark figure in a tree hidden within the leaves ironic enough. Slowly I move my hand to my kunai from my pocket getting a tight grip on the handle. Soon enough I throw the kunai at the tree hitting my target. I jump up to the tree to seek out my target.

I land on a tree branch slowly moving toward the dark figure. In front of the figure there are leaves blocking my view. Moving the leaves I see a blur of black as it lunges at me. We go plumbing towards the ground. With the black figure on top of me gripping my shirt I grip theirs and turned to where they are under me. Crashing into the ground I hear a discomforting 'snap'. I look down at the figure below me only to notice it's a boy around my age with the symbol of the village hidden in the mist.

"Feisty one aren't you. I like that." He say smirking and grabbing my shoulders and pulling me closer. The worst part was that my legs were straddling his waist. His grip loosened on my shoulder.

"Don't worry we will get to the fun, but you know the saying pain before pleasure." He said before grabbing me and throwing me against a tree near by. I let out a painful gasp. First I cough up blood, but soon I look up and give a wide smirk while laughing.

"What's so funny." The mist ninja ask fully out of curiosity with a shocked expression at my reaction.

"The fact that you think I'll allow that. You must be dumber than I thought." I say giving the most smug look I could. All he did was grit his teeth at me.

He launched himself at me sending a kick towards my torso, but I swiftly grabbed his foot pushing it backwards sending him falling. He quickly grabbed his kunai and thrown it towards my face. I moved as fast as I could, but as the kunai past by me it made a deep scratch on my face before hitting the tree behind me. I then put all my chakra in my right fist and run straight towards my enemy and throwing a punch hitting him in the gut sending him flying back through nine trees knocking down the trees in the path.

I realize that my chakra was going to run out within the next few attacks. Finally looking over I notice Naruto was still on the ground passed out. Not noticing the mist ninja coming back from my last attack. He had followed my gaze and realized that Naruto was here to. The other ninja then leaped at him while pulling out another kunai and aiming it towards Naruto as his target. I leaped to stop it from hitting Naruto by using my body to stop the blow.

As my body came right in front of the enemy's katana I started to feel something strange around my feet. It was different than the usual wet mud. Then realizing when I looked down in was sand. Which of course that meant.

"Sand Wall." A calm as ever Gaara shouted sending a barrier of sand to come up blocking the ninja's kunai strike. He then turned his head and fixed his eyes on the the mist ninja.

"Sakura." Gaara said with a harsh tone "You alright." He ask never breaking eye contact with the enemy. All I could do was nod because I was in shock at what had just happened.

"Sand Burial." Gaara said lifting his hands up making the sand wrap around the ninjas body cut him off from all air. I start to panic.

"Gaara stop we must bring him to Tsunde for questioning." I tell him trying to convince him not to kill the boy.

"Fine but if he is proven useless I will kill him for interfering with my mission." He says through his teeth.

"Okay let's just bring him to the hokage." I tell him putting my hands up trying to calm down the angered the sand ninja. After that Gaara grabbed the mist ninja by the arm and wrapped it around his shoulder. With that we headed back toward the hokages tower. I couldn't help but feel like we were forgetting something.


	3. Answers

_**Chapter Three: Answers**_

 _ **Gaara's POV**_

We had made it to the hokage's tower with the mist ninja still over my shoulder. Sakura had moved in front of me and opened the door. She moved over while holding the door to make room for me to slide through. Once the ninja and I are inside the building Sakura comes in shutting the door behind her.

Sakura and I do the same routine to get into the hokage's office. As I look over I see Sakura head towards the corner and just stand there as if staying out of sight of the hokage.

"Sakura you've return with Gaara I hope that means that you reconsidered the idea of him guarding you." She said finally looking up at the beaten girl. Tsunade face had a look of discomfort at the sight of her student in such bad shape. Now that I think about it I hadn't taken the time to notice the amount of damage the mist ninja had done to her. She had a deep long cut going across her cheek, with bruises and scrapes going up along her legs, and her clothes were torn all over. All this gets my blood boiling.

'The ninja must of saw Naruto and Sakura's fight and decided to wait till the end to finish them off when they were at their weakest.' I thought to myself figuring that's why the ninja hadn't attack sooner. Which I'm lucky for any sooner and I would have failed my mission.

"What happened to you. God your chakra is almost completely drained." Tsunade's voice full of worry interrupting my thoughts.

"Don't worry about me we got someone from the mist village for interrogation." Sakura said trying to get the focus off her.

"Okay put him in the chair. Wake him up." The hokage ordered me and I quickly obliged by placing the boy on the chair, but not before 'accidentally' dropping him on the floor.

"Sorry arm gave out." I say bluntly while adjusting him onto the chair. All the girls did was roll their eyes at my actions. After Setting him up in the chair I snap my fingers in front of his face waking him up. He look up with 'huh' as if forgetting about attack. His face is blank at first then is scrunched up as if remembering what happened.

"Good you're awake now why not give us some answers." Tsunade says to the enemy ninja.

"I prefer not to be a traitor before 5pm, but I might make an exception if pinky here is the one asking the question." He finished off with a wink towards Sakura. All she did was shutter.

"No. No way am I going to allow." The hokage didn't get a chance to finish before getting cut off by Sakura.

"It's ok I'll do it, but little warning to you I think my chakra is coming back." She said making a fist at the boy to prove her point.

"Pain before pleasure as I always say." He says with a smirk across his face. How bad I wanted to knock it off, but Sakura had beaten me to it by punching him in the gut with very little chakra in the punch. The punch had made the Ninja hunch over in pain. The punch had made even me flinch.

"Like I thought my chakra is coming back." She said catching somewhat of my interest.

'That is not the same Sakura that I use to know.' I think to myself remembering the girl from Chunin Exams. She had gotten a little braver.

"What's your name?" She questioned him with a glare upon her face.

"Oh so we're at first name bases. Well sweetheart you first." He said smirking. Sakura was about to answer when Tsunde came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You don't have to answer his questions." Tsunde said making eye contact with Sakura. All she did was nod at what the hokage had said.

"I know, but if it gets him to cooperate then it's ok. My name is Sakura Haruno." She said gesturing to herself. She had a small gleam in her emerald eyes that I do not recognize.

"Well Sakura." The mist ninja said rolling his tongue. "I'm Tabi Hikaru." He finished putting his hand out for her to shake. Which she glanced at it ignoring it, and the boy put his hand down a disappointed.

"Why did you attack me?" She said a little bored of questioning the mist ninja. He looks at me and then back at Sakura.

"You weren't my original target actually, but that blonde kid with the Nine Tailed Fox inside him was. I attacked you because you were there, and it might be just me but you defeated him. So I attacked the strongest first." He stated as if it should've been a well known fact.

"Sakura what were you doing fighting Naruto again. You know he has an advantage with his chakra. He could of killed you." Tsunde said yelling at Sakura for her stupidity.

"But Tsun.." Sakura said trying to defend herself but got cut of by the hokage.

"No Sakura you have to realise your not as strong as some of the ninjas here. You can't afford fighting them." The hokage said silencing the pink haired ninja. All I did was watch all this go down and stayed silent.

"We can continue the interrogation later. We got enough information now. They are going after the stronger ninja first. Put him in a cell or something." Sakura ordered not looking at her mentor. It looked like she was more interested with the floor. All the hokage did was nod and grab the mist ninja by the arm dragging him out of the room to some place unknown. I look over towards Sakura to see her looking at the floor. She looks up at me and flashes the most endearing smile I've ever seen.

"Let's go I'm tired and want to rest." She said catching me off guard. That now after the words from the hokage had spoken she was willing to cooperate with the plan. With that we were off.


	4. Ramen

_**Chapter Four: Ramen**_

 _ **Sakura's POV**_

We made it outside the hokages tower and started heading toward Tsunde's house. Neither of us said anything to the other. There really is nothing to talk about. So we just walked. About half way there we were in the middle of the village. Nothing really ever caught my attention here. It was all the same.

"Sakura!" I heard a voice behind us yell. I turn around to see Naruto running at full speed towards our way. He was going fast enough to where he couldn't stop if he tried and was going to run directly into me. Not having enough time to move I prepare my body for the blow of Naruto. But before he could even reach me Gaara had spoken.

"Sand wall." He said calmly putting his hand up with the sand following putting a barrier between Naruto and I like he had done earlier with the mist ninja and I.

Best part was watching Naruto run straight into the wall. I was laughing so hard I was hunched over holding my stomachs while Gaara looked like he was somewhat amused. Naruto got up brushing off the dust and looked at Gaara and then at me.

"Sakura why did you leave me there knocked out? Woah Sakura what happened to you? Naruto questioned me. I couldn't let him know that I was in danger and he couldn't protect me. He won't ever let me out of sight again.

"Naruto you don't ever question a girl's appearance, and I fell out of a tree coming back into town." I told him earning a raised eyebrow and a questioning look from Gaara knowing that isn't what happened.

"Oh ok you always was a clutz. I understand that now but why is Gaara here?" Naruto says looking over at Gaara who was about answer before I cut him off.

"Gaara don't say anything. Naruto and I had a bet and he lost so he doesn't get to know." I say. Gaara nods in understanding.

"Ah no fair Sakura. Please tell me." Naruto starts to beg. All I do is shake my head.

"Nope. Now come on you owe me some ramen, and if you buy some for Gaara to I'll heal you." I say putting my hand out. Naruto grabs my hand and shakes it.

"Deal." Naruto shouts and starts walking towards the ramen shop. I turn to look at Gaara to see his Jade colored eyes looking back at me.

"You don't need to do that. You need to heal yourself." He said with a serious tone.

"It's fine my chakra is back and Naruto heals fast so it doesn't take much I'll be fine I promise so let's go get some ramen." I say grabbing his arm without realizing it and dragging him with me as I try to catch up to Naruto. In the back ground all I can hear is Gaara yelling at me.

"Unhand me woman I can walk on my own." He said glaring at my hand. All I did was laugh at him.

"Then hurry up then. I'll race you there." I said letting him go and running toward the ramen shop. I turn my head to see Gaara running behind me trying to catch up. I turn I head forward and run a little faster dodging the people in my path. One even yelled.

"Those ninja are at it again." All I could do was laugh at their comment.

I make it to the ramen shop first and was opening the door to show that I won when Gaara came up behind me and squeeze past me into the room, and then turn back and grinned at me.

"I guess I won." He said still grinning.

I smile at him and said. "I think I won actually." He just looked at me a little confused on what I was talking about. I smiled bigger.

"How?" He asked still confused. I just laughed.

"That was the first time I've actually seen you smile." I said through my giggle fit.

"I don't get how you won though." He said looking at me like I'm a mad man.

"Well I've never seen you smile and I just feel like that's a win for me." I said blushing a little bit out of embarrassment of having the redhead staring at me. He just looks away.

"Let's go Naruto is probably waiting." He mumbled and turned to find a seat where Naruto is. I follow until I see Naruto sitting in the corner of the shop. He hops out of his seat and starts waving at us like an idiot. I try to look as if I don't know him. As I look over I notice that Gaara had face palmed at the blonde idiot.

"How did you get here so fast?" I asked Naruto who just stood there scratching his head before looking up at me and grinned.

"Teleportation Jutsu." He said as if it was the most obivous thing in the world. I just stood there stunned. I then face palm at my forgetfulness.

"How come I didn't think of that?" Gaara and I say together. We just look at one another blankly. We quickly look away from eachother flushed with embrassment. There was a akward silence between the three of us, no one knowing what to say so we just decided to take a seat in a booth located in the back corner of the ramen shop. Gaara sat next to Naruto on the opposite of the booth as me. Naruto had waved over the waiter and placed a order for three bowls of ramen before the waiter turned and hurried off to the back room to prepare the food.

"Sakura your really starting to improve on the focus of your chakra aren't ya?" Naruto states with a really proud look on his face.

"What do you mean?" I ask puzzled. Naruto just looks at me and laughs.

"Your punches are starting to hurt way more than they use to, believe it." He says while scratching the back of his head.

"You know you shouldn't hold back on me when we fight. I'm not the same girl I used to be." I say and Naruto nods in understanding. We sit there for another few minutes in silence still waiting on our food, so I decide to take the focus off me and onto Gaara who is just sitting there in silent listening to Naruto and I.

"Gaara how is Temari? She usually visits me every few months but I haven't seen her for a while." I say wondering about my blonde spiky haired friend from Suna.

"Well Temari and Kankuro have actually been spying on the Mist Village for the past couple months with Kiba and Shikamaru, and reporting anything suspicious they might find." Gaara says making Naruto jump up from the table. Gaara and I just stare at him.

"Why didn't Grandma tell me about this? Why didn't I get to go?" Naruto starts shouting causing the attention of the few people in the ramen shop to stare at him. I quickly grab Naruto by the collar of his shirt and pull him down, forcing him to sit down. I cover his mouth with my hand to quit his ranting. He makes eye contact with me and instantly looks terrified.

" _Naruto if you quit your ranting I will beat you to a pulp. Do you understand?_ " I ask him in my terrifying voice. He gulps and slowly nods, so I release his shirt.

"Good." I say while giggling. Gaara looks at me a little wide eyed.

"Who knew you could be a bit scary Sakura." Gaara said a little bit amused.

"You have no idea." Naruto said giving Gaara a goofy sideways glance earning a light punch in the arm from me. Naruto winced in pain from my punch as he rubbed his arm. I quickly realized that I haven't healed yet. Before I could apologize our waiter had brought us our ramen, making Naruto forget about his hurt arm. With that we all laugh, even Gaara. I had a feeling that Gaara and I might get along more than I thought we would.


	5. Nurse

_**Chapter Five: Nurse**_

 _ **Gaara's POV**_

After Naruto had paid for the meal, Sakura had convince Naruto to go to the hospital so she could heal him properly. After about a three minute walk from the ramen shop we had made it to the Leaf Village Hospital where Sakura had rushed Naruto and I into a unoccupied room.

"Naruto you know what to do." Sakura said looking at Naruto before turning to me.

"And as for you, just stay here. I have to go put on my uniform since its hospitals rules. It will only be a few minutes." She finished saying before turning and leaving the room shutting the door behind her. I just shrug and turn towards Naruto to see him closing a curtain around him blocking my vision.

"Sorry Sakura has rules that I must wear a hospital gown when I'm a patient here." Naruto grumbles obviously upset at having to wear the gown. Naruto then opens the curtain to reveal him in his gown. He was pouting while staring down at his gown. Suddenly the door handle starts to turn and the door opens slowly. I turn to the door as Naruto quickly jumps into the bed.

"Naruto are you changed yet?" Sakura ask as she comes in slowly with her eyes closed.

"Yeah it's ok Sakura I'm dressed." Naruto responds making Sakura open her eyes. She nods and heads towards the bed where Naruto is lying. She pulls two chairs up to the side of Naruto's bed and motions for me to come sit next to her. With a second of hesitation I decide to go sit next to her.

"Naruto make sure to hold still ok." Sakura tells Naruto. He nods as a reply. She then focuses her chakra into her hand before pressing them onto Naruto's abdomen. The sudden contact makes the blonde idiot blush, and my head to shake at his childish behavior. After she healed his stomach she moves her hands up towards his arms healing the bruises. I couldn't help but to admire how she looked when concentrating. Her lips were slightly parted, her pink hair had been put into a neat ponytail with a few strains hanging loosely around her face, and the way she was gentle with Naruto. It felt like I could almost understand what it means to see human life from a different point of view.

I watched as all the bruises heal on Naruto's body as Sakura carefully healed them all. When she had finished she turned to me nodded her head towards the door as a signal for us to leave. We had bid our farewells with Naruto before leaving to go home.

The sun was just about to set, and we had not wish to travel in the dark when other ninja could be lurking. Sakura had not been looking so well for most of our travel to our designated home. After about a quarter of the way she had wobbled a bit before completely collapsing. I had noticed this and caught her before she had hit the ground. Sakura had passed out from chakra exhaustion. I didn't want to wake her, so i pick her up bridal style and started back down the streets to our destination. Looking down at the young woman in my arms I felt myself become a little self conscious. I was about to have my sand carry her the rest of the way to the house, when I felt her arms wrap around me tight and her head snuggle into my chest. I froze in place as warmth spread to my cheeks. Not knowing what to do I continue walking and enjoy the embrace of the beautiful woman in my arms.

When we had finally reach the hokage's large home, I unlock the door and bring Sakura inside. I didn't take in much of the scenery before finding a couch to place Sakura on. As I was setting her down on to the couch she pulled me down with her making me lay almost completely on her. A burning blush had formed across my cheeks. Looking down at her I realised how close our lips were, and how tempting her lips looked. I leaned down connecting our lips with a gentle captivating kiss. I quickly pull back realizing that I was taking advantage of the situation. Gently I lift Sakura up and place her head onto my chest to make a cushion for her. When I had adjusted us until I was sure we were both comfortable, before I knew it I had given into sleep and was surrounded by darkness.


	6. Interesting Morning

**Chapter Six: Interesting Morning.**

Sakura didn't want to wake up, but her mind just couldn't stay asleep no more. She was so comfortable in her warm bed, so she snuggled a bit closer to the warmth. The bed had smelt differently than her normal smell, but it still smelt nice and welcoming. Then reality came crashing in as Sakura realised that she didn't remember going home, nor had she got in to bed. Slowly she opened her eyes hoping that no pervert was near her, but instead of seeing a pervert she found herself lying on a rather amazingly built chest. Sakura blushed a dark crimson red before looking up to meet with a pair of bright jade eyes. Realising that she had slept on Gaara made her face flushed even more if that was even possible. Sakura quickly tried to get up and back away from Gaara using her chakra to help get loose, because she didn't think her normal strength was enough since her arms and legs felt like jello. She had failed to notice that his arms were around her waist, and that she had pulled them both off the couch.

From the sudden movement made by the flushed girl Gaara had been caught off guard and found himself holding on tighter to Sakura's waist. Sakura's footing had been lost and caused both of them to tumble towards the ground. Sakura who was expecting to feel the impact of the floor had squeezed her eyes shut. Gaara however had other plans.

Realising that she wasn't falling anymore Sakura had opened her eyes, and came face to face with a certain redheaded ninja who was looking down at her smirking. Confused as to why she didn't hit the ground she looked around and notice what was holding her up.

'Of course Gaara would use his sand!' Sakura thought almost facepalming herself for not realising it sooner. Breaking out of thought her focus went to the man who had saved her from her fall. Sakura blushed once again when noticing that their faces were only a few inches away. Her heartbeat had quicken and she found herself lost in his mesmerizing eyes.

' _ **Deja vu much?'**_ Inner Sakura had said making her presence known to Sakura. Sakura had chose to ignore the voice and try not to die from the amount of blood that was going to her face every time she blushed.

" uh-uhh tha-thank you Ga-gaara" Sakura said as was mentally cursing for her school girl stutter.

"No problem, but if you're gonna fall try not to take others with you." Gaara stated with another smirk as if declaring he won. Sakura had not like this, and given her hot temper was going to exploded.

"You Jerk!" She yelled while getting ready to hit him in the head like she had done to Naruto on so many occasions. Gaara had already expected this reaction from her and was slightly faster. Before Sakura had a chance to hit him he had removed himself from being on top of her taking all of his sand with him. From the lost of the sand being underneath her, Sakura had dropped and hit the ground with a loud 'thump". She fuming with anger and was ready to attack with the intent to kill, until she heard the most charming sound she had ever heard and then almost immediately all her anger was gone. Sakura looks towards the source of the sound and found it coming from a Gaara who couldn't stop laughing. She would of yelled at him or maybe even try to kill him for laughing at her, but she was in a trance from hearing him laugh.

When Sakura had finally snapped out of it she noticed that Gaara wasn't laughing any more, but his face was now occupied with a big grin that was full of pride. Sakura couldn't help but to smile at the handsome male as her heart was doing flips in her chest from the sight of him.

"You need to smile more. It makes you look handsome." Sakura says looking away blushing from embarrassment. She had spoke so quietly that Gaara had almost missed what she said. Almost. Gaara was now blushing a red that could almost rival his own hair. He was about to make a comment when there was sudden door. Sakura had took this as an escape and rushed towards the door. When reaching the door she opened it to reveal a very cheerful Lee standing outside with a bouquet of flowers.

"Good morning Sakura, you look as beautiful as always." Lee says pushing the flowers into her hands. He then gave his nice guy pose that would usually make other people laugh at him, but Sakura was different. She gave him the biggest smile before moving out of the doorway so Lee could come in, which he did so with a blush on his face from seeing Sakura's beautiful smile.

When fully entered Lee had noticed Gaara who had his usual emotionless blank face. Before Lee could greet the stoic redhead Sakura had came back into the room after putting Lee's flowers in a vase.

"How did you know where to find me?" She asked having a confused expression on her face. Lee had looked at her before his face had brightened as if remembering something important.

"Tsunade sent me. She said that she wanted to see you and Gaara in her office by noon, so you have about 30 minutes." He says before giving an explanation that he had to go meet Gai-Sensei so they could do some training, then he left without another word which is quite odd for Lee. Gaara and Sakura give each other a strange look before shrugging it off and getting ready to meet with Tsunade. What an interesting morning.


	7. Accidents Happen

_**Sakura's POV**_

We had departed from large house and made our way towards the hokage's tower. It wasn't far so it made more sense to just walk other than jumping from building to building. It was warm out with a nice cool breeze. I closed my eyes and took in the nice feeling. It was not always so nice in Kohona. It's usually more on the hot side, that's what made today so nice. I open my eyes and look towards Gaara. He looked slightly uncomfortable and it took me a few moments to figure out why. I let out a giggle and poked his cheek.

"Not use to the weather here, huh?" I asked and his cheek turned a light pink. He looked almost caught off guard, which is nice compared to his usual stoic face. I let out another laugh and he turns head away so I couldn't see his face anymore.

"What are you going on about now woman?" He said still looking away. I couldn't help but think how cute he looked. Almost as timid as a child. It took all I had not to pull him into a bone crushing hug.

"I didn't know the almighty Gaara could be so cute." I said before I could fully process what was coming out of my mouth. Gaara whipped his head to look at me. His eyes were wide, and his face was beat red. This time I looked away. The embarrassment was almost too much. I don't know why I said that out loud to him.

I felt something poke my cheek. I turned to see Gaara with his eyes closed and a big smile. I thought his smiles were handsome yesterday. Today he looked beyond that. There's no describing it. His smile could rival one of Naruto's. I was so lost in thought I almost didn't notice he was talking to me.

"So you think I'm cute?" There was no stopping the blush from spreading over my face. Trust me, anyone in this position would be blushing. I hate that someone could make me blush like this. Especially from someone I thought I would never talk to. It had been years since we last saw each other. It's turn out to be a nice surprise so far.

"Hmph as if I would ever call you cute." I say trying to keep my voice firm but failing miserably. Gaara let out a small chuckle before grabbing my sleeve and and taking off in a sprint. I stumble a bit before realizing what was happening. I caught up to his pace but he never let go of my sleeve. He had his sight set before us making sure not to run into anyone. I could tell he had a tiny smirk from catching me off guard. I huffed and just continued running with him. I don't quite understand what we're doing, but Gaara never really does anything without reason. This still didn't keep my annoyance at bay. Who does he think he is dragging me around? I'm the legendary Sanin's apprentice. Moving my hand so he was longer holding onto sleeve but to where I'm holding onto his. He didn't really seem to notice as we were in one of the busier part of the village so he was busy dodging people. I focused chakra to my feet for more speed, and chakra to my hand so I have the strength to drag him with me.

When he least expected it I started running with my chakra enhanced speed, this time catching him off guard to where he was the stumbling. I smirked a bit and looked back him. He looked a little breathless so I decided to slow down just a bit. When I look back forward I saw that we were less than a foot away from a chart. I tried to slow down by using my heels as breaks, but that didn't work very well. I let go of Gaara's hand go hoping he wouldn't get caught in my clumsy mess with me. Before I knew it there were a strong pair of arms around my waist. The next thing I felt was a soft impact. It made no sense till I turned my head and saw what happened. Gaara used his sand to create a wall between us and the chart. Not only did he do that, he also used himself to soften the impact for me.

Guilt start to form and my face contorted with worry. I pried his arm off of me and turn around completely to look at him. His head was tilted down and his read locks cover his face. I brushed the hair out of his face and lifted his head up so I can see his eyes. He had a small smile on his face, and the sand wall behind him went back into his gord.

"I'm starting to see Shikamaru's point…" He said looking me in eyes before continuing "Girls are troublesome." I gave a small nod and smiled. It relieved me that he was okay. I still couldn't help but to still feel guilty. I helped Gaara to his feet, before pulling him into a hug. His arms were at his side awkwardly for a moment before he slowly wrapped them around me.

"I'm sorry." I said hugging him a bit tighter, before letting him go. Gaara reached over and patted my head a little. I gave a small smile. It would of been a happy scene, but then my mouth went dry and I realized something. We were late meeting Tsunade. There was going to be hell to pay.

 _ **Thank you all for reading this chapter. I know it has been a while since I updated this story. I promise I will upload more. It has just been very hectic with school and all. I also have other stories I have been trying to get chapters out for. I'm sorry for neglecting this one and my stained red story. Stained red should have a chapter out tomorrow for those who have been following that story. Also make sure to review so I know what you guys think of the story. Have an amazing day.**_


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